Written by Conor LoftusJACKSONVILLE, FL- Olof Lindbom allowed just one goal on 29 shots to backstop the Jacksonville Icemen to a 2-1 victory over the Atlanta Gladiators Friday night at Vystar Veterans Memorial Arena.
The opening period had plenty of chances, but both Lindbom and Joe Murdaca kept the game scoreless after 20 minutes.
Atlanta struck first in the second period at the 7:33 mark on a goal by Mike Pelech who finished off a chance in front on the backhand to give the Gladiators a 1-0 edge.
The Icemen would answer back nearly 10 minutes later at the 17:25 mark of the period. Ryan Lohin dropped the puck off for Dwyer, who then made a gorgeous feed back-door to Zach Jordan for the tap in. Moments prior, Jordan’s stick broke and he raced to the bench and received another one on a perfect hand-off from Icemen equipment manager Matt Conti. Jordan grabbed the new stick in stride and received Dwyer’s pass in stride to finish off the play.
Christopher Brown put the Icemen in front with 16:44 to play in the final frame, after cutting to the middle, Brown beat Murdaca with a rising back-hander top shelf to give the Icemen a 2-1 lead.
The story of the rest of the period was Olof Lindbom who denied the Gladiators on multiple scoring chances. Lindbom finished the game stopping 28 out of 29 shots and was named the first star of the game.
Icemen are back home tomorrow at 7PM as the Greenville Swamp Rabbits visit town.
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